Wall Street slumps over Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat on films

President Trump’s proposal to slap a 100% tariff on movies produced outside the U.S. reverberated across Wall Street markets Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 100 points before recovering into slightly positive territory, though other indexes were down after a recent run of gains. 

Major studios saw their shares fall after Mr. Trump late Sunday said foreign-made films were a “national security threat” and “messaging and propaganda.”

Netflix, Disney, Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery were all down slightly at Monday’s opening. 

Investors are anxiously awaiting a thaw in the China-U.S. trade war or trade deal with nations such as Japan and India, which decided to negotiate instead of retaliating against Mr. Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff plan.

Instead, Mr. Trump proposed a new round of levies aimed at the film industry. Mr. Trump said he was concerned about the loss of U.S. jobs as films are shot overseas.

“Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated,” he wrote on Truth Social.

“I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” he wrote.

It wasn’t immediately clear how the tariffs would be implemented or what aspects of films would be targeted by levies. For instance, unlike a toy or piece of machinery item, films aren’t a physical good that is brought into the country on a shipping container.

It was also unclear whether movies would be taxed simply for shooting scenes overseas — foreign landscapes may be essential to the visuals or plot of the film – or if the tariff would only apply to films that accepted financial incentives from favored filming locales like Canada, New Zealand and the U.K.

“Although no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made, the administration is exploring all options to deliver on President Trump’s directive to safeguard our country’s national and economic security while Making Hollywood Great Again,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said.

Some film industry groups say the foreign incentives have caused certain film jobs, including camera operators and other crew positions, to dry up in the U.S.

The administration said Hollywood film production tanked from January to March 2025, with 451 shoot days for features in the region. 

That’s a roughly 29% decrease compared to the first quarter of 2024, the administration said. It also pointed to media reports that said about 18,000 film jobs had “evaporated” in the past three years, particularly in California.